KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 ― PKR’s Rafizi Ramli was not granted protection under the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2010 because he had openly revealed official secrets to the media, Minister in Prime Minister's Department Nancy Shukri said.

According to Nancy, the Act stipulates under Section 6 that an informant can only make a disclosure of improper conduct to an enforcement agency registered under the government.

She said Section 7 stipulates that an informant who makes a disclosure in accordance with the Act’s provisions shall have his or her identity protected and shall also be granted immunity from civil and criminal action.

“In the Pandan MP’s case, he was not protected under the Act because he revealed information openly in two media conferences on 24 March 2016 and 28 March 2016.

“His open disclosure exposed his identity and made him ineligible to protection under this Act,” she said in the reply to Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng.

Lim had asked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to explain why Rafizi, who was arrested on April 5 for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act 1972, had not been given protection under the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2010.

Rafizi was arrested outside Parliament’s gates on April 5 for revealing what he claimed to be an excerpt from the Auditor-General’s report on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which had been classified under the OSA.

On April 8, the Pandan MP was charged under the OSA and claimed trial to both charges under Section 8, which among others covers the wrongful possession of official secrets.

According to the first charge under Section 8(1)(c)(iii) of the OSA, Rafizi was accused of having unauthorised possession of Page 98 of the 1MDB audit report at about 3pm on March 24 at the Parliament lobby.

For the second charge under Section 8(1)(c)(iv), Rafizi was accused of acting in a way that jeopardised secrets through the disclosure of the same document’s contents during a press conference he held that day.

If convicted under either count, both of which are punishable under Section 8(1), Rafizi will be committed to jail time of at least a year, a term that may extend to a maximum of seven years.